


playing-with-do

by cloudruniere



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, daycare AU, transferring from hachannie livejournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 00:44:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16821724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudruniere/pseuds/cloudruniere
Summary: If you were to ask Jongin what he does in the afternoon every Tuesday and Thursday, he wouldn't say he hangs out with classmates or plays video games or in general stupid, pointless things before even touching his homework because in actuality he spends it finger painting and cleaning up stains on miniature plastic chairs.





	playing-with-do

Cue the applause because Jongin is actually early for once! Thank you, thank you, thank you very much, Jongin congratulates himself as he sashays his way into the pristine white building at exactly 7:30 (on the dot).  
  
Pausing outside the entrance, Jongin takes the time to smooth out his hair and check for any dirt spots or stains on his neatly ironed shirt. He gives an approving nod to his reflection and when he opens the door, he nearly runs smack into a weary eyed Sehun.  
  
"HOLY SHIT!" Jongin exaggerates his flailing and ends up standing in a weird pose, his arms bent to cover his head and left leg hiked up in defense mode. Sehun doesn't look impressed.  
  
"Why are you so active in the morning?" Sehun drones out his voice, evidence enough how much sleep he missed the night before.  
  
Jongin chuckles and jumps back into a straight shouldered stance. "What's so bad about being in a good mood?"  
  
"That I'm not and you're rubbing it in my face." Sehun leaves him behind with flourish.  
  
Jongin shrugs because it's a normal day when Sehun complains.  
  
The lights are bright and would usually irritate his morning-allergic eyes, but Jongin feels good. He doesn't know why; he just does. Maybe it was because he ate a good apple this morning. Apples are usually gross, Jongin muses as he passes the main office of the school, waving at Mrs. Park sitting comfortably in her secretary chair. Red are nice and sweet but green usually have less bruises; Jongin starts to filter through his mind the average amount of bruises he has had the unfortunate pleasure of biting into when divulging on them Red Delicious, when he hears an excited voice call out to him.  
  
"JONGIN! JONGIN!" Mr. Teddy hollers from his desk (a playful name the entire school calls the principle, no one bothers to remember his actual name so Jongin just sticks to referring the big, friendly man as Mr. Teddy).  
  
Jongin heads into the office and walks over to the principle's office situated at the corner of the room, his door is always open and the young man plops himself down on one of the two seats across from his desk. "Hello, sir, how are you?"  
  
Mr. Teddy chuckles. "Not too bad, if I do say so myself, I am quite ecstatic! Do you want to ask me why, Jongin?"  
  
Jongin asks, "Why are you so ecstatic, sir?"  
  
A loud clap startles Jongin, making him bug out his eyes and stare in fright at the overjoyed look on the principle's face.  
  
"AHA! I am happy to announce that a new round of teachers have signed up for this year's staff!" he announces.  
  
Jongin tilts his head, confused. "Um, sorry sir, it's nearly Christmas, how are you replacing all the staff?"  
  
"Oh! No, no, no, no..." Mr. Teddy rushes to explain. "What I meant to say, after my excitement, is that we have new student teachers arriving at our school."  
  
Jongin nods his head, finally following along with the conversation. "Cool. Are any going to be working with Mrs. Lee and I?"  
  
Mr. Teddy whistles as he reaches around to take out a stack of profile sheets. "Yes, we have a young man fresh out of school. He'll be here every Tuesday and he's usually going to be with the morning kids but Mrs. Lee can work out some stuff with him so that he can help you in the afternoon."  
  
"Sounds fun," Jongin says. "Can't wait to meet him."  
  
"I hope you two work well together," Mr. Teddy holds out a manila folder. "On your way to class, could you drop this off to Mrs. Lee? Thanks."  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
Jongin couldn't hide his curiosity and began flipping through the sheets within the folder. Names and numbers he doesn't recognize appear before him as Jongin walks through the first floor, saying good morning to classmates and friends he meets along the way. He sees Sehun again, probably back from making a coffee run to the nearest place he knew he wouldn't be too lazy to make a trip to.  
  
As he rounds the corner, he sees Mrs. Lee talking to a boy. Jongin stops in his tracks and waits for them to finish. It takes a while and Jongin worries it's odd for him to just be standing there in the middle of the hall, plus time is ticking for him to be able to make it to first but luckily the pair's conversation seems to be dwindling when all the boy can do is nod at the rant Mrs. Lee seems to be on a roll with.  
  
All Jongin remembers is a fine head of shiny black hair before the boy disappears into the room, and Mrs. Lee finally takes notice of the student standing dumbly in the middle of the hall.  
  
"Jongin, how may I help you?" she asks.  
  
Jongin moves forward with awkward steps, fumbling with the files in his hand. "Um, the principle sent me to give these to you."  
  
"Ah very good. He told you about our new recruit, I presume?" Mrs. Lee asks.  
  
Jongin nods. " I guess I'll see my new partner in crime today then?"  
  
Mrs. Lee laughs and begins to tease him, "I can barely handle my class, let alone when you're with them; he seems like a nice one, don't ruin him."  
  
Jongin raises his arms up in surrender. "I won't even go near the paint."  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
If you were to ask Jongin what he does in the afternoon every Tuesday and Thursday, he wouldn't say he hangs out with classmates or plays video games or in general stupid, pointless things before even touching his homework because in actuality he spends it finger painting and cleaning up stains on miniature plastic chairs.  
  
It isn't a desirable situation for most but volunteering isn't that bad and when you're with good people then honestly, why not? Therefore, Jongin has committed himself to spending two to three hours of his day in a colourful and intoxicatingly bright room, sometimes outside with an equally horrendous play set, with children.  
  
He really doesn't understand why some people are afraid of them, they're completely harmless- save for the time there were twins in the daycare and unknown to Jongin, he started freaking out when one appeared when he swore one was over there and in all honesty it was cruel and the candy Mrs. Lee gave the kids should have been given to him instead from having to endure the thoughts of going crazy took over- so yeah, completely.  
  
But, Tuesdays are fun when Mrs. Lee decides to let their classroom breathe and allow the children to go outside to play. Jongin smiles as he sees kids pushing each other playfully to swing on the swing set and slide down the huge slide. He hears small voices calling out to him, urging the student to follow.  
  
Autumn is great because there are piles of leaves made to jump into and when he notices a group of kids rushing him to join them, he laughs as he runs past and jumps in to a significantly huge one before them, earning himself painless hits on his chest and shrieks of joy when he catches two kids and rolls around with them in the pile.  
  
"Hyung is so mean." a small child says.  
  
"Sorry, Gonggie." Jongin playfully ruffles the kids hair and watches the start of his rebuttal.  
  
"Don't call me that!" Gongchan whines as he smacks the others hand away.  
  
"But you're so cute." Jongin coos at the pout the child sends him.  
  
"I'm cute though, aren't I, oppa?" Jongin cranes his head and smiles sweetly at the petite girl lying on his right.  
  
"I'll have to think about that, Ara." His teasing gets interrupted by Mrs. Lee walking over with the student teacher, whom Jongin can only presume to be since the other looked much too young to be a parent to any one of these kids.  
  
"Hello." Jongin greets as he stands up with certain difficulty, with two kids hanging onto him by his biceps. He lets them swing idly and gives Mrs. Lee a sheepish look. "Do you like my accessories, they just came in season."  
  
The other man lets out a small chuckle and Jongin prides himself in that, no matter how not-so-clever the joke was. Jongin studies the jeans and plaid sweater worn over a dress shirt. He's pale and short, but the same height as Mrs. Lee, and keeps nervously shifting in his place, his dress shoes absent-mindedly kicking stray leaves on the pavement.  
  
"Enough of that Jongin," Mrs. Lee carefully takes off Gongchan and Ara from his arms, shooing them away with promises of lollipops before their parents pick them up. "This is Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, this is the volunteer I told you about, Jongin."  
  
"Nice to meet you." Jongin greets and lets out a hand.  
  
His skin, surprisingly warm despite the chilly season, meets a naturally weather bitten hand.  
  
"You too." Kyungsoo says and gives him a friendly smile.  
  
"I'll leave you two here then," Mrs. Lee calls out before heading inside. "You know what to do Jongin."  
  
Said boy nods and starts to wander around the circumference of the daycare's playground, watching the kids run and randomly dropping in to check on a lonely child or seeing if any Scooby Doo band-aids need to be distributed. It's quiet between the two of them since Kyungsoo had no idea what to do but follow and Jongin just wasn't sure what to say.  
  
"So..." Kyungsoo starts and Jongin nearly jumps from actually forgetting he had company. "When did you start volunteering?"  
  
Jongin thinks, "I started this year, mainly because I needed hours for school so I went to my guidance counsellor and they said the daycare centre needed a hand."  
  
"Wasn't your first choice?" Kyungsoo asks, smiling. Jongin guesses because he knows it's true.  
  
"Nope." Jongin says. "But, I don't regret it, it's been fun and I used to do it once a week but I talked to Mrs. Lee and apparently the kids love me so I now I come in twice a week. I couldn't argue when a flock of them kept badgering me to come more, therefore I must share more of my presence with young souls."  
  
"And taint them."  
  
"Why of course, but I must share snacks too." Jongin relaxes as they move on with their conversation. Expectedly, Kyungsoo is very young and Jongin finds himself warming up to the prospect of spending time with him every Tuesday. Uncomfortable at first having a new person to work with, Jongin doesn't mind any more. Especially when Kyungsoo blushes after Ara comes running up, asking for them to be her bridesmaids.  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
"Do you think purple matches with red?"  
  
"Doesn't purple come from red?"  
  
"Blue and red!"  
  
"Thank you, Hongbin. I'm glad Jongin hasn't messed with your mind."  
  
"Hey, he would be blessed to even have a fraction of my intelligence."  
  
"Yeah and then we'll have two people running around spraying people with water when it's nearly -10 degrees outside."  
  
"That's an exaggeration."  
  
"That was last week."  
  
Ten minutes later, Kyungsoo has red paint on both his cheeks and Jongin has blue stains on his shirt. But, neither really mind.  
  
Jongin doesn't know when it happens but he knows that it tasted sweet when Kyungsoo decided to brush away crumbs from his face one day, that it was warm when Kyungsoo dove into another leaf pile with him and Gongchan even when it was closer to winter than autumn, that it was purple when they were cleaning up after themselves more than the children because the two eldest kids got carried away with the paint and they were matching pink when Ara said they shoudn't be bridesmaids but get married instead.  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
"You smile too much." Sehun comments one day during lunch.  
  
Jongin pouts from his seat across the other. "You make it sound like a bad thing."  
  
"You sound like everything I say is a bad thing."  
  
"Therefore I am correct." Jongin laughs when Sehun throws a french fry at him.  
  
"You amuse me with your words but really, you smile so much I think your face is going to break off. But then again, you may be doing the world a favour." Sehun makes a face and Jongin leans over to slap his cheek.  
  
"I grace you with my friendship and this is how you repay me? Some friend you are." he complains.  
  
Sehun shrugs. "I said I'd be your friend. Never mentioned being a good one."  
  
Jongin rolls his eyes and focuses back on his habit of people watching, vehemently ignoring Sehun's presence and right now, getting distracted by the view of Kyungsoo outside, leading the kids, all holding on to a long red rope keeping them in a straight line, around the school. He sees Gongchan holding Kyungsoo's hand and sighs when he feels his heart yearn for the same thing. Sehun seems to notice a sudden change and begins commenting on it. He follows the other's line of sight to see a stranger to him laughing with a group of children.  
  
"Wow, jealous of a five year old." Sehun says.  
  
"Am not." Jongin grumbles.  
  
"Are too and you're losing. The kid seems to be getting more action than you."  
  
Jongin squawks. "Let's see you try to snag a date with over a dozen kids cockblocking you!"  
  
Sehun arches an eyebrow. "They can't even reach your dick and they're stopping you from getting laid."  
  
Jongin groans and buries his head in his arms. "Can we please stop talking about this?"  
  
"Sure," Sehun says. "Why don't you just ask that kid for some advice- he seems to be getting somewhere."  
  
Jongin looks up to see where Sehun is pointing and chokes when he sees Kyungsoo giving Gongchan a kiss. Maybe he does need some help.  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
"Want to help me, Gonggie?" Jongin asks on a Thursday afternoon when the daycare is full and Mrs. Lee is too busy with healing Hongbin's booboo to wonder why Jongin took away a child and was whispering to him in the corner of a busy playground.  
  
"Why Jonggie hyung?" Gongchan retorts and Jongin smirks when he seems to finally be affecting the young one's mind. Please don't let me receive any threats from parents, Jongin pleads in his head.  
  
"You know Kyungsoo?"  
  
Gongchan nods his head fervently. "Duh! He's everywhere!" Gongchan exaggerates and waves his arms around. "He's with me when I need to pee, when I draw outside the lines, when I talk about what you do on Thursdays when he isn't here and laughs when you do stupid stuff and he even smiled when I told him you drew him last week!"  
  
Jongin blanches and he seethes. "YOU LITTLE SPAWN ON SATAN WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?!"  
  
Gongchan smiles knowingly. "Because I knew you'd hate it but Kyunggie hyung loved it and he turned all red."  
  
The elder calms down after hearing that. "R-Really?"  
  
The little boy starts to walk away. "You're mad so I won't tell you anything else."  
  
Jongin surrenders and starts to crawl on his knees to the triumphant looking child. "No, no, sorry Gongchan, hyung isn't mad."  
  
"Good," Gongchan says. "Because you never would have known what Kyung hyung did with his Play-Doh last Tuesday when you were helping Mrs. Lee."  
  
Jongin nods his head to urge the child to spill. "Hyung did what..."  
  
"He used up all his Play-Doh and mine too to spell your name inside a little heart."  
  
Jongin's own heart starts to feel like Play-Doh.  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
Day Number One of Attaining Do Kyungsoo is a go, Jongin announces in his head when he makes his way from his locker to the first floor and walks inside the daycare room. The first thing he notices is that it's awfully quiet and clean. A shiver runs through at the abnormality of the situation and gets a shock when a melodious voice calls him out. "Jongin! Want to give me a hand?"  
  
The brunet turns around to see Kyungsoo wobbling with metal trays stacked high in his arms and Jongin rushes to catch them when he notices the top two starting to tip off. A phew escapes Kyungsoo's lips and Jongin feels relieved to have saved both of them the trouble of cleaning up another one of their own hand created messes.  
  
"Thanks." Kyungsoo breathes, sending Jongin a sweet smile as he makes his way to the front of the room. Jongin doesn't get the chance to smile before Kyungsoo gives him a full view of his back and Jongin just stares at his figure as he follows him.  
  
He openly looks and traces his eyes over the other's body while he's not looking but shakes his head when he remembers he's in a daycare and the thoughts in his head are highly inappropriate. He hears a crash and sees Kyungsoo struggling again to put down the trays.  
  
Jongin rushes over to help, earning a grateful look and another breathless thanks. "What are these for?" Jongin asks and Kyungsoo answers by pulling back the covers to see dozens of small little cakes.  
  
"Mrs. Lee said that we could do some cake decorating today since Christmas break is coming. I baked these little individual cakes and brought some icing."  
  
"Ohh, yummy," Jongin says and reaches around for a green bag lying on a empty tray and squirts out some on his finger to try. It's sickeningly sweet but Jongin guesses that's what a majority of the kids would like. "Do you really want to give these kids sugar?"  
  
Kyungsoo laughs and reaches out to pull back another tray to show a small package of strawberries. "If they want to make their parents proud." Kyungsoo jokes and grabs one to eat himself. He munches on it happily and Jongin stares when he sees the juice cover Kyungsoo's pretty lips to make them even more strikingly red.  
  
Kyungsoo gives him a weird look. "What's wrong?"  
  
Jongin shakes his head. "Nothing, when are the kids coming in?"  
  
"Mrs. Lee just took them around for a walk. They're using that cute little rope thing to keep them together." Kyungsoo giggles and starts to open plastic covers of plates to set up on all the kids seats. Jongin helps him by grabbing a tray and placing a small circular cake on each one.  
  
When they're done, Jongin sees there are a few left. "Want to decorate some before they come back?"  
  
Kyungsoo looks up from where he was starting to put away toys and nods, "Sure!"  
  
The two put on aprons and get to work.  
  
Jongin is no artist so when he's done with his cake it's as efficiently decorated to how a child would; that equals to a cake with every colour whirling around the edges and two tiny strawberries in the middle. He turns to look at Kyungsoo next to him and laughs at how serious the other is being as he pipes out his icing in neat strokes and pretty designs. Feeling the urge to mess around, Jongin takes the orange piping bag he was using and lets some drip onto his finger which he playfully swipes on Kyungsoo's cheek. Looking up quickly, Jongin laughs at the betrayed look on the others face. His features scream HOW COULD YOU before it morphs into one of vengeance and the bag he held was now directed at Jongin coupled with a raised eyebrow and challenging smirk.  
  
"Do you really want to go there." Kyungsoo says and he gets his answer when Jongin picks up an new icing bag. "I'm already here."  
  
And that is how Mrs. Lee and the class find Kyungsoo straddling Jongin with the latter's face covered in white (icing).  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
Day One wasn't so good so fast forward to Day Eight when Jongin is present and Kyungsoo is back. Christmas break is next week so Jongin doesn't have another chance to confess and be able to spend even a day during this merry time of the year with his heart's desire. Jongin shivers when he actually mentally used the label Ara placed on Jongin's infatuation. He'd be damned if he ever said it aloud.  
  
It's an indoor day, sadly, since the weather is getting colder and colder and the kid's complain too much when their noses are running and sweat accumulates under the piles of jackets and coats but still feel freezing. Jongin helps warm up Taemin's hands and smiles when the young one laughs with content. He turns around and sees Kyungsoo jumping up and down lightly on the spot and eagerly rubbing his hands together. Jongin grins as he makes his way across and takes the initiative to reach out and wrap his warm hands around Kyungsoo's, rubbing them soothingly and breathing on them. "Better?" Jongin asks, Kyungsoo nods and mumbles a shy, "Thanks."  
  
This gives him to courage to continue and when they're all sitting on tiny plastic tables, rolling manufactured dough in their hands, Jongin comes up with an idea. He leans down to whisper in Gongchan's ear and feels hyped when the latter jumps around excitedly. They work together the rest of the afternoon, sharing peices of Play-Doh and waiting for the room to clear out more as parents arrive for their kids. Soon Gongchan has to go, but the kid doesn't leave until he high fives his favorite hyung and whispers a loud good luck.  
  
This leaves two- well three, gotta count Mrs. Lee who eyes Jongin giving her a signal to leave. She sends him a calculating look before finishing what she was writing and shuffles away.  
  
Kyungsoo doesn't notice the sudden quiet, having been distracted by cleaning up Play-Doh stuck between cracks and being mused by the scratching of pen against paper and repetitive ticking.  
  
Jongin, however, is merely perfecting his work and claps his hands satisfied. "Kyungsoo, could you help me clean up here?'  
  
"Sure." comes the immediate response and Jongin stands up to start rummaging through the empty cups and leftover balls of green and yellow. He eyes Kyungsoo as he walks over and tucks in a few chairs before he pauses and reads the words formed from a flurry of multicolored Play-Doh.  
  
I LIKE YOU <3  
  
Kyungsoo stares at Jongin who whistles lightly and keeps giving him shy looks. Jongin sways on the balls of his feet, hands folded neatly behind his back with his hair falling endearingly over his forehead. "So..." Jongin begins and wishes his heart would calm down so he could hear the other respond.  
  
He's admiring the tile underneath his shoes when he feels a cold hand graze over his forehead, sweeping his hair to the side and dark eyes meet his own.  
  
"I like you too." Kyungsoo says as he places a kiss on a burning cheek.  
  
  
  
-  
  
  
  
Jongin lied to Kyungsoo. He really did regret signing up to play with children after school when he could have hung out with classmates or play video games or in general stupid, pointless things before even touching his homework . But, he guesses it was half the truth since he really doesn't regret it now.  
  
Wednesday's are fun since Kyungsoo decides to pay a visit on afternoons he isn't teaching and Jongin thought another day with kids wouldn't hurt.  
  
It also isn't as insulting as you think when Ara gets playful and places a childish Hello Kitty band aid on his cheek to fix his booboo and a PowerPuff Girl band aid over his heart. She says it's because he's sad "Kyunggie oppa" isn't around to keep him company and in her eyes, his wife can't save him from Gongchan's "evil clutches".  
  
He really doesn't mind because Kyungsoo visits and places a kiss on every band aid to heal him of his suffering. One day, Jongin decides to act on helpful advice and claims he couldn't find a band aid to place over his lips. But, Kyungsoo would have kissed him either way.

**Author's Note:**

> twt @babyleIe


End file.
